How much does an electric blanket cost to run?

Figures on this page are calculated from typical appliance wattages and the price per kWh you enter, not looked up from a bill. See how we calculate this.

What an electric blanket costs to run: typical 100 W, about $4 a year. Adjust the figures to your own usage and electricity price.

Wattage and running cost

It only runs part of the year, so the last row is the whole season (~120 days) rather than twelve months, and "per month" means a month in season. Cost at $0.18/kWh, the US average.

An electric blanket is one of the cheapest heating devices you can own, because it warms you directly instead of trying to heat a whole room. Most blankets draw only 60 to 200 watts — a fraction of a space heater — and many switch to a low maintenance power once warm. Warming a bed for half an hour before sleep, or taking the chill off an evening on the sofa, costs just pennies, which makes it a genuinely useful way to stay warm while keeping the central heating turned down.

The saving comes from the principle of heating the person, not the space. A whole room full of cold air is expensive to warm with a space heater; a blanket puts the warmth exactly where you need it for a tiny fraction of the power. Used sensibly — to preheat the bed then switch off, or to stay cosy so you can lower the thermostat — an electric blanket is one of the highest-value small purchases for a winter energy budget. Enter its wattage and typical hours above to see the cost.

Compared with running the central heating overnight to warm a whole house while everyone sleeps under the covers anyway, a couple of electric blankets are a fraction of the cost. It is a clear example of the general rule that heating people beats heating spaces — and one of the easiest to act on the moment the nights turn cold.

Couples with different temperature preferences have a genuine lever here: a dual-control electric blanket lets each side of the bed run its own heat setting independently, so one person can have it on high while the other has it off or low, rather than a single control forcing both sides to the same setting or heating a side nobody is using. For a shared bed, that per-side control is often worth more to the yearly cost than any single tip about turning it off sooner.

What an electric blanket costs in other countries

The figures above assume $0.18/kWh, the US average. An electric blanket does not change when it crosses a border — the price of the electricity it drinks does. Here is what its 24 kWh a season cost in the 14 countries with a page here, dearest first.

Each figure is in that country's own currency at its average all-taxes-included price; the dollar column is there so they can be set against each other. Ireland to Canada is a factor of 3.8 — same appliance, same hours, 3.8 times the bill. Follow a country for its real retailer tariffs and what makes up that price, or see the full electricity price comparison by country.

How to cut electric blanket running costs

• Preheat the bed for 20–30 minutes, then switch it off before you sleep.
• Use it to stay warm so you can turn the central heating thermostat down.
• Lower settings and the maintenance mode use far less than full power.
• Heating the person, not the room, is always cheaper than a space heater.
• Switch off at the wall when not in use to remove any standby draw.

Frequently asked questions